In his october 1, 1974, speech celebrating Independence Day, Nigeria's military leader, Major-General Yakubu Gowon, announced that the nation's return to civilian rule, long promised for 1976, would be postponed indefinitively. This article attempts to demonstrate the following: 1. A strong majority of Nigerian academic are opposed to continued military involvement in a successor regime. 2. Nigerian academics have formulated an alternate view of the ideal system of government for Nigeria: a. this alternate view resembles the government established by the military in that it includes a strong centralized national government; b. this alternate view is contrary to the system established by the military in that it lays heavy emphasis upon the idea of limited government. 3. Academics constitute an influential elite in Nigerian, although less influential than other elite subgroups. Notes, tables.